Cyrus the Great

Encyclopedia of World Biography
COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great (reigned 550-530 B.C.) was the founder of the Persian Empire. His reign witnessed the first serious contacts between Persians and Greeks and the permanent loss of political power by the peoples of the old centers of power in Mesopotamia.

In the new Median Empire, which shared with Babylon the spoils of the fallen Assyrian power, the Persians were a subordinate group, though closely related to the Medes and speaking a similar Indo-European language. They were ruled by their own local kings, and one of these married a daughter of the Median king Astyages; their son was Cyrus. Astyages seems not to have been popular, and when, in 550 B.C., Cyrus revolted, Astyages's own troops went over to Cyrus. The Median Empire thus became the Persian Empire. It is worth noting that Cyrus treated his defeated grandfather with honor and that instead of sacking Ecbatana, the Median capital, he kept it as one of his own because Pasargadae, the Persian center, was too remote for use as a capital. Cyrus also continued to keep Medes in high office.

War with the Greeks

The Medes and the Persians were so similar that foreigners tended to see only a change of dynasty (the Greeks still called the whole group Medes), but any such upset implied to the other powers a tempting weakness, and Cyrus soon found himself embroiled in new wars. The first was with Croesus, King of Lydia, a wealthy state in western Asia Minor whose subjects included the Greek cities along its coast. Croesus tried to find allies, including, with the aid of the Delphic oracle, the states of mainland Greece. But Cyrus moved too quickly. In a winter campaign he surprised and took Croesus's "impregnable" capital of Sardis. The Greek Herodotus says that Cyrus spared Croesus, though this has been questioned; Croesus may have committed suicide to avoid capture.

Cyrus then returned to the east, but he left Harpagus, a Mede, to complete the conquest. Over the next years Harpagus subdued the local peoples, including the Greek cities of the coast. The importance of this first serious contact between Greeks and Persians was doubtless unrecognized by either people, yet each was to become and remain for 2 centuries the main foreign preoccupation of the other.

Conquest of Babylon

Nabonidus (Nabu-Naid) of Babylon had originally favored Cyrus, but border conflicts led to war, and in 539 Cyrus captured Babylon. Here again his victory was made easy by the aid of Nabonidus's own subjects, for Nabonidus had alienated many powerful interests, especially the priest-hood of Marduk, Babylon's chief god. Cyrus posed as both a liberator and a supporter of the local gods and once in power pursued a careful policy of religious toleration. The most important example of this was his allowing the Jews to return to their homeland.

Not only the civilized states to the west but also the steppe peoples to the east engaged Cyrus's attention, and during his remaining years he pushed his frontiers to the Indus and the Jaxartes (modern Syr Darya). He died in 530 somewhere east of the Caspian Sea, fighting a tribe called the Massagetae.

Cyrus's right to be called "the Great" can hardly be questioned, and not only because his conquests were vastly larger than any before him anywhere on earth. The sudden emergence of Persia as the dominant power in the Near East is the most striking political fact of the 6th century B.C., while the conquest of Mesopotamia (Egypt was left for Cyrus's son Cambyses) marks the first time that a true Indo-European-speaking people had gained control of the old centers of civilization. Further, Cyrus's policy of generosity toward the conquered became standard Persian practice; among the imperial peoples of history, the Persians remain outstanding in their ready toleration of local customs and religions.

Further Reading

Though business and government documents from the Persian Empire are extant, knowledge of the personal lives of the Persian kings comes almost entirely from Greek sources. Herodotus's Histories ranks first; Xenophon's Cyropedia is mainly a propaganda piece. Good recent treatments are in A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Achaemenid Period (1948); Roman Ghirshman, Iran: From the Earliest Times to the Islamic Conquest (1954); and Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (1962). □

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

Citation styles

Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:

Modern Language Association

The Chicago Manual of Style

American Psychological Association

Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.

In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.

Cyrus the Great

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

Cyrus the Great (sī´rəs), d. 529 BC, king of Persia, founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus, he was the son of an Iranian noble, the elder Cambyses, and a Median princess, daughter of Astyages. Many historians, following other ancient writers (such as Ctesias), deny this genealogy, and the whole of Cyrus' life is encrusted with legend. Cyrus overthrew Astyages, king of the Medes, sometime between 559 BC and 549 BC He entered Ecbatana and, taking over the Median kingdom, began to build a great empire after the Assyrian model. Cyrus' objectives were to gain power over the Mediterranean coast, secure Asia Minor, and civilize the east. Croesus of Lydia, Nabonidus of Babylonia, and Amasis II of Egypt, joined by Sparta, tried to build a strong alliance against him, but to no avail. He defeated and captured Croesus (546 BC), and Lydia became a satrapy under the Persian government. The Chaldaean empire of Babylonia fell to Cyrus in 538 BC He did not conquer Egypt, but he prepared the way for later Persian victories there. Cyrus demanded the surrender of the Greek cities that had been under Lydia, and they also became satrapies of Persia. Cyrus was much admired by the Jews, whom he favored, placing them in power in Palestine. His motive was probably to create a buffer state between Persia and Egypt, but the result was a rehabilitation of Israel. Cyrus was admired as a liberator rather than a conqueror, because he respected the customs and religions of each part of his vast empire. The exact limits of Cyrus' eastern conquests are not known, but it is possible that they reached as far as the Peshawar region. He used Susa, Ecbatana, and Babylon as his capitals but was buried at Pasargadae, where he had built a splendid palace. At his death his son Cambyses succeeded him, despite the ambitions of another son, Smerdis.

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

Citation styles

Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:

Modern Language Association

The Chicago Manual of Style

American Psychological Association

Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.

In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great (c.600–529 bc) King of Persia, founder of the Achaemenid Empire in Persia. He overthrew the Medes, then rulers of Persia, in 549 bc, defeated King Croesus of Lydia (c.546 bc), captured Babylon (539 bc) and the Greek cities in Asia Minor. Although he failed to conquer Egypt, Cyrus' empire stretched from the Mediterranean to India. He delivered the Jews from their Babylonian Captivity, sending them home to Palestine. His decree, held in the British Museum, is regarded as the first declaration of human rights.

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

Citation styles

Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:

Modern Language Association

The Chicago Manual of Style

American Psychological Association

Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.

In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great (d. c.530 bc), king of Persia 559–530 bc and founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, father of Cambyses. He defeated the Median empire in 550 bc and went on to conquer Asia Minor, Babylonia, Syria, Palestine, and most of the Iranian plateau. He is said to have ruled with wisdom and moderation, maintaining good relations with the Jews (whom he freed from the Babylonian Captivity) and the Phoenicians.

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

Citation styles

Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:

Modern Language Association

The Chicago Manual of Style

American Psychological Association

Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.

In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.